Jul. 16 – A survey conducted by banking company, HSBC, showed Vietnam as having the most optimistic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region.

The  HSBC Emerging Markets Small Business Confidence Monitor tallied the answers of more than 3,400 SMEs in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Respondents in the Asian region included India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Companies were polled asking about their plans in the next six months in terms of capital investment and recruitment plans in addition to forecasts on economic growth. In Vietnam, 49 percent of the 300 companies answered that they will be hiring in the next six months, compared to the Indian market where only 22 percent of SMEs said they will be doing the same.

The results also showed Vietnam topping the list of Asian countries that are readying more capital investments for the rest of the year. Head of Commercial Banking at HSBC, Tan Siew Meng, told ChannelNewsAsia: “In comparison with the other Asian countries, they started slowing down ahead of the other Asian countries.

“Now with the economy at a more sustainable level, the business activity is beginning to pick up ahead of the Asian countries. That’s why you’re seeing that the confidence level in the Vietnam market is extremely high.”

HSBC’s report attributes Vietnam’s measures to address its overheating economy prior to the downturn last year as part of the general optimistic sentiment. Vietnam remains attractive to foreign direct investors because of the potential of its still untapped domestic market  which offers more opportunities for companies to expand beyond their country of origin.

The region’s most optimistic according to the poll after Vietnam was India followed by China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan then Singapore.